By Drew Gilliland
Program & Research Associate, G.LO.B.A.L. Justice
In the midst of a recently challenging time in my life, I found a wonderful passage in Isaiah 42 that has given me great hope and continues to encourage today. I recommend reading 42:1-9 before continuing — verse 3 is particularly encouraging:
“A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench...”
If you’re anything like me, you’ve felt at times felt bruised and about to break, or like your wick is about to burn out. I love this picture of God presented in Isaiah -- in order to keep a bruised reed from breaking, or to keep a wick from burning out, one must be extraordinarily gentle. God cradles us as he straightens us out to stand tall. He hunches down around us and cups his hand around us to protect our flame from outside wind. He becomes intimately involved with us as we suffer, gingerly and lovingly holding as precious children. He offers us respite from trouble and presence in the midst of it. As he himself said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Isaiah 42 embodies the one who gives us rest. Many sermons and articles talk about a passage and then extract an application. Not so Isaiah 42. It’s all about Christ. It all points to him as the doer of justice. As we work for justice, we can rest because he will “faithfully bring forth justice” (v. 3). If we are weary and disheartened, we can take heart because, “He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth…” (v. 4). God has “put (his) Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” He will “open the eyes of the blind” and “bring out the prisoners from the dungeon.”
These are signs of a new covenant in which God will make all things new. And this is all we must do: endure patiently in Christ as he brings forth new things in and among us. He will sustain us and bring us into his glorious light. He is with us now as we suffer and will see us through to the end as the author and perfecter of our faith. The New Earth is coming, where he will consummate his kingdom once and for all. Remember this, and remember to rest in Christ most of all, as we go about the things he has given us to do – because he has already done them. Take heart, sisters and brothers. He will not break you or snuff you out, but hold you and protect you.